A Promise You Were Never Going to Keep
by smaragdbird
Summary: Thorin and Thranduil were involved before Smaug and the feelings they've had for each other linger despite everything.


It was a moment of absolute clarity. Thranduil sprinted across the distance between them, raising his sword to counter the blow but he was too slow. Azog's mace impacted on his chest, sending a sickening crunch through his body.

Behind him Thranduil felt Thorin whirl around. He heard a cry of fury and saw Azog swing his mace around to defend himself against Thorin's attack. For a moment he stood there, feeling numb and disorientated, then his knees gave in and he fell to the ground.

He didn't feel pain. It was a curious sensation. He had been hurt in battle before but he had always felt pain, not this time though. But it felt hard to breathe, hard to concentrate on what was going on around him. He saw Thorin and Azog fight but at the same time it was as if he was not seeing anything at all.

Blood was running over his chest from the two cuts Azog's mace had left in his skin, having cut through his armour. The red was a stark contrast to the grey and blue of his clothes. Another roar temporarily roused his attention and he watched as Thorin sunk his sword into Azog's chest down to the hilt.

Azog's scream was full of fury and disbelief. He tried to swipe at Thorin with his claw-arm but Thorin side-stepped him with elegance Thranduil had forgotten he possessed. He pulled his sword out and decapitated Azog to finish it.

Thranduil saw all of that but for him it looked like the pictures in a book and not something that was happening in front of him. He knew he was missing moments when Thorin was suddenly right on front of him but Thranduil couldn't remember seeing him move.

For a long moment they only looked at each other until Thorin said, "I will get you out of here. You're – "

But Thranduil caught his arm and said, "It's too late, Thorin."

"Why did you do that?" Thorin asked through clenched teeth, trying to keep his anger reigned in. "Why were you so stupid?"

"I do not wish to live in a world that does not have you in it." Why lie? Thorin, Mirkwood, Middle-Earth, he was never going to see them again. Even if Mandos released him, Valinor was a prison, a beautiful gilded cage from where there was no escape.

"No, you don't get to say that to me and then leave", Thorin snarled, grabbing Thranduil's torn mail shirt with both hands. "If I mean that much to you then you will stay."

"You already hate me Thorin. What difference does another broken promise make?"

"The other one I would have forgiven if you had asked me but you can never apologise for breaking this one."

Thranduil rested his hand against Thorin's cheek. "No, I cannot."

"You stupid, stupid elf. Didn't you think for maybe one second that I don't want to live in a world without you either?"

Thranduil could feel his life leaving his body but he curled his hand into Thorin's hair and held on. Just a little longer, just a bit. "Tell Legolas I love him. Tell him I'm proud of him. Tell him he'll be a better king than I was. Tell him to follow his heart wherever it leads him."

"No one could be a better king than you."

"There is no need to lie to the dying, Thorin." Suddenly pain surged through his body like a wave crashing on the cliffs. His breathing became faster and he could see Thorin grimace when his grip on his hair became tight enough to hurt. "In a different life...I would have given you everything."

"I know", Thorin brushed a strand of his hair out of Thranduil's face. "I know."

He was terrified of dying. Six thousand years had not been enough time. He was not yet willing to give up this life full of pain and death for the rest and tediousness of Valinor. But he had no choice. His life for Thorin's that was the deal he had made. He pulled Thorin towards him until their foreheads touched and whispered, "Farewell, Thorin, King under the Mountain."

For a moment Thorin hid his face against Thranduil's lifeless neck and if he left wet traces on his skin who could have said?

"Farewell." He lowered Thranduil's body to the ground. The battle was not yet won even if the orcs had ignored them for these few moments. He would make sure that none of them touched Thranduil until it was over and he could be given a proper burial.

Thorin gripped his sword tightly and threw himself back into battle.


End file.
